Thursday October 25, 2018

Mediaweek TV

This week on Mediaweek TV James Manning spoke with Chris Wirasinha, co-founder of Pedestrian TV. Tune in to Mediaweek TV at 2.30pm on Your Money (Foxtel 601 and 95 FTA).

In 2005, Pedestrian TV. founders Chris Wirasinha and Oscar Martin wanted to change the publishing game by creating a platform that would resonate with young Aussies in an entirely new way. They succeeded well beyond their initial plan and now look after Australia’s biggest youth news website. Along the way they sold down their shareholding with Nine Entertainment picking up what it didn’t already own just last month. Chris Wirasinha joins Mediaweek TV to talk about the digital publishing marketplace.

Awards season ramps up: 2018 Media i Awards finalists announced

Finalists for the 2018 Media i Awards have been announced.

Finalists for the 2018 Media i Awards have been announced.

The Media i Awards, scheduled to be held in Sydney on November 14, had a total of 3,898 respondents vote in 2018 with a record 2,112 media agency professionals, representing more than 80% of the media agency fraternity in media owner facing roles.

Media agency respondents voted for their best media sales team and individual representatives in each of the channels they were engaged in, and in doing so decided the best in the industry for 2018.

News Corp NSW team were also winners in 2017

This year’s Media i Awards finalists will compete in the following categories:

• National Sales Team of the Year • Sales Team of the Year by Market (NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia & South Australia) • Sales Person of the Year – by Market, by Category (Television, Digital, Outdoor, Magazines, Newspaper, Radio)

Winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held at the Ivy Ballroom in Sydney. For further information on the awards night, go to www.mediaiawards.com.au .

Charles Parry-Okeden, CEO Media i, said: “The Media i Awards not only recognise the professionalism and excellence of sales teams and individuals, but the success they achieved for clients in collaboration with media agencies.”

“The popularity and importance of the Media i Awards have been proven once again with this year’s voting up on last year [2017] and reflecting a record number, representing over 80% of the media owner facing agency fraternity. Finalists should feel immensely proud of their nomination,” said Chris Winterburn, managing director, Media i.

Media I managing director Chris Winterburn

This year’s Media i Awards have once again been supported by the media industry including the Media Federation of Australia, Carat, Initiative, IPG Mediabrands, OMD, PHD, Posterscope, The Media Store, UM, Starcom, Vizeum and Wavemaker.

ACRA Winners celebrate: Rosie Waterland on her ‘crazy little idea’

Best Original Podcast was won by Mum Says My Memoir is a Lie – RosieWaterland (PodcastOne SCA).

Best Original Podcast Branded was won by Modern Babies from Genea and the Nova Entertainment Podcast Team.

Rosie Waterland was thrilled with her ACRA victory for her popular podcast and posted this note to her social media:

Waaaaay back in 2016, I had this crazy little idea – if my mum was insisting that a lot of my childhood memoir, The Anti Cool Girl, wasn’t true, why not sit down together, read each chapter and then talk about what we disagreed on when it came to our shared past?

Mum incredibly generously agreed to take part, PodcastOne gave us an amazingly patient and sensitive producer, Jaime Chaux, and Mum Says My Memoir Is A Lie was born.

It took us more than six months to record all 22 episodes, sometimes taking breaks because it was just so emotionally exhausting for both of us. I then spent almost another six months listening to what we’d created and helping with the final edit of each episode, even though all I wanted to do was never listen or re-live any of it ever again.

We fought, we laughed, we talked about family memories and trauma that we’d never faced each other with before. Mum gave her side of the story, I gave mine, and we pushed forward without any promise of a neat resolution.

Mum Says My Memoir Is A Lie now has listeners all over the world, in massive numbers that I can’t even comprehend. As my big sister Rhiannon said, “Who would’ve thought our bogan family talking would be interesting?!?” (And as mum always says, “Rosanna, you’re not even that funny.”)

Waterland is currently a columnist for Australia’s 9Honey, and is writing her third book, which will be her first work of fiction. In 2018, she was announced as the newest ambassador for Australian underwear label Modibodi – one of the very few Size 22 models to ever front an Australian underwear campaign.

Waterland is part of a new Dan Ilić comedy night in Sydney on November 2 at Giant Dwarf that has been branded “Q&A on crack”.

Podcast platform bosses on what makes a great podcast

Commercial Radio Australia also held its annual Radio Alive conference last week and devoted several sessions to podcasting.

One session was hosted by Jaime Chaux (who Rosie Waterland mentions above), CRA’s head of digital and formerly PodcastOne content director. Chaux’s guests in the session were Southern Cross Austereo head of podcasting Grant Tothill and Nova Entertainment head of podcasting Jay Walkerden.

When it comes to pitching ideas to podcast platforms, Walkerden used Confessions Of A Twenty Something Trainwreck as a case study. Podcaster Phoebe Parsons entered her podcast into Nova’s Podquest competition. It has subsequently thrived and is now into five seasons.

Walkerden said they now host live podcast shows with audiences of around 200 people and more are planned.

When asked about what he requests from budding podcasters, Walkderden said getting an episode map of the series helps and then a test recording. He noted they have avoided true crime at present as there is so much available and it takes a long time to get it right, but he is working on a number of comedy projects.

Jaime Chaux and Grant Tothill

Southern Cross Austereo’s Grant Tothill said his team chases content that might be missing from the PodcastOne platform. “We want something that will attract an audience. We are pretty selective – from maybe 1,000 podcast pitches we might end up with five podcast series.”

When asked by Chaux about PodcastOne’s most popular genres, Tothill smiled and said he wasn’t about to reveal that in front of a room full of podcasters and audio sector executives.

Tothill then played an excerpt from one of Adam Shand’s successful true crime podcasts.

Tothill added: “We get a lot of people who pitch radio ideas – but it’s not radio. The most successful pitches are from people who have thought it all through and have an idea for each of their episodes.”

Jay Walkerden

Another podcast session at Radio Alive was hosted by Jay Mueller who is now back working with Eddie McGuire in addition to producing podcasts. Muller is one of Australian radio’s most successful producers, having spent time producing the most successful radio show in Australia – 3AW’s Breakfast with Ross & John. Mueller was later poached by McGuire when Triple M launched The Hot Breakfast. He left Triple M last year and spent time with SEN 1116 overseeing content and later producing Gerard Whateley. Mueller has returned to work with McGuire Media and JAM TV as head of development.

Bradnam played an excerpt from his Addicted podcast and spoke frankly about the recordings and how he recorded it with his wife in the room to keep him honest.

Nickolic talked about making content that you couldn’t use on radio. When it comes to crime he noted: “People like it dark and they want the detail.”

Pacific Magazines hosts Innovation Day for staff in conjunction with Amazon Web Services

Pacific Magazines, the home of Better Homes & Gardens and marie claire, recently held Innovation Day in conjunction with Amazon Web Services (AWS) with the aim to foster creative thinking and ideation across the business.

The Innovation Day saw staff workshopping creative ways to use artificial intelligence (AI) to generate game-changing products and services for Pacific customers.

Following a pre-event briefing from AWS, staff from across the business put forward ideas to be considered for the Innovation Day.

AWS then helped the innovation teams understand how to turn their ideas into working, viable products by recommending architecture, products and processes. Participants from Pacific included developers, engineers, brand managers and product managers.

Teams were given a full day to build prototypes and refine their ideas with support from an AWS solutions architect. Ideas were then presented to a panel including Pacific Magazines CFO GuyTorre, Seven West media CDO CliveDickens and New Idea and Who editorial director Emma Nolan.

An auto video captioning solution took top honours for enabling the automatic inclusion of captions on Pacific’s video assets. The solution used Amazon Comprehend for natural language processing, Amazon Transcribe for speech recognition, Amazon Translate to understand multiple languages, and Amazon SageMaker to create a machine learning model.

The Innovation Day was the second hosted by the publisher, following a similar project in 2017 themed around Pacific’s market-leading BEAUTYcrew digital platform. The first Innovation Day resulted in plans to relaunch the Practical Parenting platform, which went live in July and saw the site introduce an e-commerce element along with peer-to-peer reviews.

Pacific Magazines head of digital product and technology WillEveritt said, “In the past 12 months, we’ve been focused on delivering innovation to better reflect Pacific’s digital and tech capabilities. By empowering our staff to go beyond their usual duties, to be inspired to create new solutions, and to collaborate with the tech hub of the business, we’re developing a true competitive edge.”

Amazon Web Services’ ANZ senior manager solutions architecture RodneyHaywood said: “Participation from Pacific employees wasn’t limited to developers but also those working in marketing and products. AI in the past has been a complex technology but businesses are often surprised at how accessible it has now become through AWS Cloud.”

Pacific Magazines CEO GereurdRoberts said: “Our innovation initiatives are building an environment where creativity is encouraged in everyone and our knowledgeable, passionate and talented people can not only share but actually develop bold ideas. The Innovation Day has been an incredibly beneficial exercise that not only helps raise ideas but exposes the teams to other areas of the business to foster a culture of collaboration and innovation that is driving new product development.”

—

Top photo: Clive Dickens at Pacific Magazines’ Innovation Day

Seven to be #1 network and channel for 12th consecutive year

With 34 of the 40 ratings week gone, Seven has announced that it is bound to “sweep” 2018.

The news comes a day before its 2019 Allfronts event in Sydney.

Seven’s director of network programming AngusRoss said: “After a close win last year, we promised to up our game in 2018, and the team has delivered in spades.

“We’ve broken records and dominated the ratings throughout the year. In fact, in every month we have never dropped below a 39% share, while our competitors have never been above 39%. Our worst is still better than their best.

“What’s particularly pleasing is that this success is down to the strength and depth of our programming across the board. From 6am to midnight, we have the strongest spine of ratings winners, bar none. And with the AFL and cricket locked up until 2022, Seven can guarantee those mass audiences and certainty for our advertisers for years to come.

Seven West Media chief revenue officer KurtBurnette said: “We said we would deliver and we did. It’s always an incredibly important outcome for us when we can deliver for our partners and it is our very clear objective to do that again with audience and business solutions in 2019.”

• Is leading the P25-54, P16-39 and P18-49 demographics, and is on track to win them all • Has the highest commercial share of Total People in OzTAM ratings history (40.4%) • Has its highest ever shares of P25-54 (37%), P16-39 (36.7%) and P18-49 (36.7%) • Is the only commercial network to have increased share YoY across Total People, P25-54, P16-39 and P18-49 • Has won 28 of the 33 non-Commonwealth Games ratings weeks

TV Ratings Analysis: October 24

Seven

After the traditionally strong lead-in from Seven News, Home And Away kept its audience above 600,000 for the third consecutive night.

Ob docs then took over the channel with Highway Patrol on 594,000, well up on last week’s 529,000 with no episode of The Block to compete with last night.

At 8pm Beach Cops did 629,000, much improved on last week’s 545,000.

The US drama 9-1-1 was on 559,000, also an improvement on 499,000 a week ago.

Nine

No episode of The Block last night, but A Current Affair’s Reid Butler has reported on the auction day in previous years and he gave viewers a preview last night. Also on the episode was drama at the Noosa Chocolate Factory. The midweek episode was close to the week’s best with over 750,000 again.

Two more episodes of Young Sheldon last night – a new episode did 582,000 after Tuesday audiences of 611,000 and then 550,000. A repeat episode last night from the first season then did 528,000.

Another episode of the US drama Manifest about missing flight 828 did 464,000 after 323,000 last week.

TEN

Actress Claire Foy was a special guest on The Project talking about her new role in The Girl In The Spider’s Web. After guest co-host Fitzy asked if she had met any of the royal family after working on The Crown, she explained that HRH had not endorsed the Netflix drama! The episode did 440,000 after 7pm, which means this week’s average will be down on last week.

Posting a good gain week-on-week, again thanks in part to The Block disappearing from the timeslot, was The Bachelorette. The first of two episodes this week climbed from 544,000 seven days ago to 622,000 last night.

Playing For Keeps was on an improved 463,000 after 359,000 a week ago.

ABC

Invictus Games Today got the 8pm slot from Hard Quiz last night with 457,000 watching the daily update show.

Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell then did 616,000 after 668,000 a week ago.

The laughs then continued with the final of Back In Very Small Business with Don Angel avoiding business disaster as his controversial marketing campaign went viral. The final episode did 279,000.

Also the final outing for Black Comedy with a very funny final episode on 156,000.

Superwog then did 111,000 followed by Adam Hills The Last Leg, which featured Tracy Ullman as guest. The episode slid well below 100,000 with its 10.30pm timeslot.

SBS

Episode 10 of Food Safari Water did 167,000 at 7.30pm.

Great British Railway Journeys then lifted the audience to 240,000 at 8pm.

The UK drama The Missing then started a new (for SBS) season on 142,000.

Week 43 TV: Wednesday

WEDNESDAY METRO

ABC

Seven

Nine

Ten

SBS

ABC

11.6%

7

21.2%

9

17.7%

TEN

12.8%

SBS One

5.1%

ABC 2

2.6%

7TWO

3.6%

GO!

3.3%

ONE

3.8%

VICELAND

1.3%

ABC ME

0.6%

7mate

3.5%

GEM

3.1%

ELEVEN

2.4%

Food Net

1.2%

ABC NEWS

2.1%

7flix

1.9%

9Life

2.1%

NITV

0.1%

TOTAL

17.0%

30.2%

26.1%

19.0%

7.7%

WEDNESDAY REGIONAL

ABC

Seven Affiliates

Nine Affiliates

Ten Affiliates

SBS

ABC

10.7%

7

23.8%

9

13.6%

WIN

8.7%

SBS One

4.6%

ABC 2

3.4%

7TWO

4.8%

GO!

4.5%

ONE

3.9%

VICELAND

1.4%

ABC ME

1.1%

7mate

4.1%

GEM

5.0%

ELEVEN

2.9%

Food Net

1.0%

ABC NEWS

1.9%

7flix

1.9%

9Life

1.9%

Sky News on WIN

0.8%

NITV

0.1%

TOTAL

17.1%

34.6

25.0%

16.3%

7.1%

WEDNESDAY METRO ALL TV

FTA

STV

84.1%

15.9%

WEDNESDAY FTA

Seven News Seven 1,003,000

Seven News / Today Tonight Seven 933,000

Nine News 6:30 Nine 879,000

Nine News Nine 873,000

A Current Affair Nine 759,000

ABC News ABC 644,000

7.30 ABC 629,000

Beach Cops Seven 629,000

The Bachelorette Australia Ten 622,000

Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell S9 ABC 616,000

Home And Away Seven 616,000

Highway Patrol Seven 594,000

Young Sheldon Nine 582,000

9-1-1 Seven 559,000

The Chase Australia Seven 542,000

Young Sheldon (R) Nine 528,000

Manifest Nine 464,000

Playing For Keeps Ten 463,000

Invictus Games Today ABC 457,000

Hot Seat Nine 454,000

Demo Top Fives

16-39 Top 5

The Bachelorette Australia Ten 228,000

Playing For Keeps Ten 195,000

Beach Cops Seven 119,000

The Project 7pm Ten 114,000

Highway Patrol Seven 112,000

18-49 Top 5

The Bachelorette Australia Ten 348,000

Playing For Keeps Ten 284,000

Beach Cops Seven 213,000

Nine News 6:30 Nine 210,000

9-1-1 Seven 198,000

25-54 Top 5

The Bachelorette Australia Ten 346,000

Nine News 6:30 Nine 280,000

Playing For Keeps Ten 278,000

Nine News Nine 263,000

Beach Cops Seven 254,000

WEDNESDAY Multichannel

Peter Rabbit ABCKIDS/COMEDY 142,000

Dino Dana ABCKIDS/COMEDY 140,000

Dot. ABCKIDS/COMEDY 137,000

Octonauts ABCKIDS/COMEDY 134,000

Neighbours ELEVEN 130,000

Rosemary & Thyme-PM 7TWO 124,000

The Big Bang Theory TX2 (R) 9GO! 121,000

Bluey-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 120,000

Little Roy-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 120,000

Peppa Pig-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 119,000

Andy’s Wild Adventures ABCKIDS/COMEDY 118,000

Judge John Deed-PM 7TWO 117,000

Wanda And The Alien-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 117,000

Hey Duggee-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 115,000

Ben And Holly’s Little Kingdom ABCKIDS/COMEDY 113,000

Rusty Rivets-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 111,000

Peppa Pig-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 111,000

Pawn Stars-PM 7mate 110,000

Spicks And Specks ABCKIDS/COMEDY 109,000

The Simpsons-E3 PM 7mate 108,000

WEDNESDAY Subscription TV

Gogglebox Australia LifeStyle Channel 190,000

Love It Or List It Australia LifeStyle Channel 177,000

Grand Designs LifeStyle Channel 73,000

NCIS TVH!TS 53,000

The Bolt Report Sky News Live 52,000

Paul Murray Live Sky News Live 48,000

Paw Patrol Nick Jr. 44,000

Blaze And The Monster Machines Nick Jr. 42,000

PML Overtime Sky News Live 42,000

Paw Patrol Nick Jr. 41,000

As Time Goes By FOX Classics 40,000

Criminal Minds TVH!TS 39,000

Live: Sportscenter ESPN 37,000

Nella The Princess Knight Nick Jr. 37,000

Escape To The Chateau: DIY LifeStyle Channel 35,000

Mayans M.C. showcase 35,000

Shimmer And Shine Nick Jr. 35,000

NCIS TVH!TS 34,000

Earthquake FOX Classics 34,000

Peppa Pig Nick Jr. 33,000

Shares all people, 6pm-midnight, Overnight (Live and AsLive), Audience numbers FTA metro, Sub TV nationalSource: OzTAM and Regional TAM 2018. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) without the prior written consent of OzTAM

Media News Roundup

Business of Media

ARN launches Sonic division and partnership with Sixième Son

ARN has launched a new division Sonic and an exclusive new partnership with global audio branding consultancy Sixième Son.

The division has been created to champion innovation in audio creative with solutions in Audio Branding, personalised contextual audio and skills development in voice-enabled devices.

Founded in Paris, Sixième Son is renowned as the global leader in strategic audio branding. With offices in New York, Chicago, Toronto, Barcelona, and Moscow, Sixième Son has created audio brands for Unilever, Renault, Chanel, Samsung and Coke, to name a few.

ARN’s chief commercial officer Emma-Jayne Owens said: “The launch of Sonic and the announcement of our new partnership with Sixième Son is further proof of our commitment to energise brands and deliver powerful audio experiences.”

Michaël Boumendil, founder and president of Sixième Son, said: “We are thrilled to be working with a partner who brings a powerful vision about the future of sound and music.

“Combining Sixième Son’s global expertise with ARN’s depth of knowledge of the Australian market, we will bring incredible competitive advantage to our mutual clients through the strategic use of sound.”

Matchbox Pictures appoints new COO to work with new CEO

Matchbox Pictures’ Matt Vitins (pictured) has been promoted to chief operating officer. He will work closely with new managing director Alastair McKinnon, who joins in December, to grow Matchbox in Australia and internationally.

Having spent three and a half years with Matchbox, most recently leading the business as acting managing director for six months, Vitins will oversee the company’s operations including production, finance and business affairs.

He joined Matchbox in 2015 and since 2016 has been director, business affairs, leading this function across development, financing and production for scripted and unscripted.

Vitins was responsible for the business affairs on Matchbox’s co-commission deal with ABC and Netflix for Glitch, as well as financing on titles Wanted and Secret City. Vitins also assisted with the recent establishment of Tony Ayres Productions (TAP). He was previously an associate at a major Australian law firm.

Sarah Cooper, COO, NBCUniversal International Studios, said: “Matt is an integral part of the Matchbox team who has played an important role in the company’s success. I’m delighted that he is taking up this new role and I look forward to seeing him thrive as he works with Alastair and the Matchbox founders on their next phase of growth across Australia and internationally.”

Vitins added: “I love this company. It is filled with people who have things they want to say. I am thrilled to be associated with the place and especially thrilled with this new role. I think we are incredibly well-positioned with Alastair joining, a pipeline of exceptional shows coming up and fantastic support from NBCUniversal International Studios.”

Japanese reporter Jumpei Yasuda freed by jihadists

Japan is awaiting confirmation that a man freed from Syria is journalist Jumpei Yasuda, kidnapped a second time three years ago by jihadists, reports The Australian.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was relieved by the news and was anxious to get the man’s identity confirmed. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has said the man was most likely Yasuda and he was now in Turkey.

“I would like to get confirmation that he is Yasuda himself as quickly as possible,” Abe said.

Yasuda was kidnapped in 2015 by al-Qa’ida’s branch in Syria, known at the time as al-Nusra Front, after contact was lost with him in June that year. However, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, al-Nusra’s successor, denied any involvement on Tuesday.

“We deny the accusations directed against us in the kidnapping of Japanese journalist Yasuda. We heard of his release through media outlets,” it said.

Geoffrey Rush tells court he may have told co-star she looked ‘yummy’

Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush admitted in court on Wednesday he “possibly” inadvertently grazed the breast of a younger female co-star, and may have told her she looked “yummy” or “very scrumptious” while working on a 2015-16 production of King Lear, The Australian’s Rosemary Neill reports.

Just a few hours later, Rush’s wife, actress Jane Menelaus, choked back tears in Sydney’s Federal Court as she said her husband “doesn’t wish to act again” and that “I have watched him be destroyed”, after The Daily Telegraph published articles reporting he was the subject of an “inappropriate behaviour” complaint made to the Sydney Theatre Company.

Rush’s wife was giving evidence on the third day of the defamation trial he has brought against the Telegraph.

The Shine and Pirates of the Caribbean star is suing the Telegraph and journalist Jonathon Moran after the newspaper published allegations he behaved inappropriately towards his younger co-star, Eryn Jean Norvill, during the production. Rush said the Telegraph’s articles falsely painted him as a “pervert” and “sexual predator”.

Actor Geoffrey Rush sent a younger, female co-star a text featuring a winking emoji with its “tongue out”, the sign-off “Gregarious Raunch” and the words that he thought of her “more than is socially appropriate”, the Federal Court in Sydney heard yesterday.

But the Academy Award winner denied the text indicated he was attracted to the actress, Eryn Jean Norvill, the woman at the centre of a defamation case Rush has brought against Sydney newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

While under cross-examination, Rush likened the inclusion of the emoji in the text, sent six months after he and Norvill appeared in a Sydney Theatre Company King Lear production together, to a Groucho Marx joke. “If there’d been a Groucho emoji, I would have punctuated with that,” he said.

At a Senate estimates committee hearing last night, Anderson was grilled on why the ABC had not investigated and acted on the allegation after it was first raised with the ABC’s media team by The Australian on May 2. The journalist had referred The Australian to the ABC’s media unit.

Anderson said he was told there had been no formal sexual harassment claim or complaint made at the ABC.

He said he had learnt of the alleged incident only last week when NSW Corrective Services Minister David Elliott used parliamentary privilege to accuse Foley of harassing a journalist at a function.

Facebook removes 8.7m child nudity images

Facebook says company moderators removed 8.7 million user images of child nudity during the last quarter with the help of previously undisclosed software that automatically flags such photos, reports Reuters’ Paresh Dave.

The machine learning tool rolled out over the last year identifies images that contain both nudity and a child, allowing increased enforcement of Facebook’s ban on photos that show minors in a sexualised context.

A similar system also disclosed on Wednesday catches users engaged in “grooming”, or befriending minors for sexual exploitation.

Facebook’s global head of safety Antigone Davis told Reuters in an interview that the “machine helps us prioritise” and “more efficiently queue” problematic content for the company’s trained team of reviewers.

The company is exploring applying the same technology to its Instagram app.

Turf wars: consulting versus agencies

One of many strategic challenges ripping through corporate brand owners here and abroad is the rise of the big consulting firms and their move into the marketing food chain – historically the domain of large advertising agency networks, reports Paul McIntyre in The Australian Financial Review.

There remain distinctive differences between what KPMG, Accenture, Deloitte, PwC, EY and even McKinsey are doing in their brand, media and marketing advisory practices, and collectively how they operate versus the international agency networks, largely controlled by six listed global communications holding companies.

Debate is raging, at least in the agency sector, about the threat consulting firms pose to their business: Accenture Interactive has acquired a number of high-profile creative and design agencies here and abroad. PwC has taken a minority stake in a start-up agency in Australia and Deloitte has a substantial digital operation with strategic and execution capabilities. All of those moves, along with a broader mandate from the consulting firms to set up marketing advisory units and integrate or overhaul “customer experience” programs for corporates, have fuelled fear and loathing among agency groups and their listed motherships towards the big consulting groups.

P&G surges as ‘murky’ media cleaned out

The world’s biggest marketer, Procter & Gamble, which spends $US7.2 billion ($10.1 billion) annually on advertising globally, last week saw its biggest single-day share price rise since 2008 after posting an increase in organic sales of 4% in the September quarter, the company’s best growth result in five years, reports Paul McIntyre in The AFR.

Behind much of the praise in equity markets for P&G pushing through price hikes, particularly in beauty and grooming, is a high-profile agenda P&G has been leading to clean up and overhaul the “murky” digital media supply chain to extract better efficiencies and effectiveness from its marketing investments.

P&G has cut $US400 million out of digital advertising in the past 18 months, slashed the number of online vendors it spends with from thousands to a few hundred higher-quality publishers, reduced spending with online behemoths Google and Facebook and shaken up how it uses media and advertising agencies.

Stokes defends Kerry Packer, saying he was not a bullying, oppressive father

Kerry Stokes has defended the late media tycoon Kerry Packer and his parenting style in the wake of revelations about the mental struggles experienced by Packer’s son James, reports Brad Thompson in The AFR.

Stokes said Kerry Packer was not a bullying father and very proud of James, but had his own way of parenting in wanting the best for the heir to the Packer family’s multibillion-dollar business empire.

The Seven Group chairman said he had a different view to most on Kerry Packer as a father, rejecting the picture painted by some of the volatile businessman as a parent who “bullied, oppressed and did terrible things to James”.

“That wasn’t what I actually saw. I actually saw a man who was very proud of James… who was trying to establish James with what he needed for him to achieve his potential,” Stokes said on Wednesday.

Louise Roberts: Let it go. Disney movies aren’t corrupting your kids

Deconstructing childhood icons and destroying their joyful innocence has become as much a part of modern parenting as tutors for kindy kids and junior Instagram accounts, writes The Daily Telegraph’s Louise Roberts.

Princesses are now in the firing line, Disney princesses to be exact, having now been deemed lacking the requisite feminist consciousness.

As children, we recognised Cinderella and her ilk as fantasy figures, a bit of escapism in a perfectly drawn cartoon world that was nothing like ours punctuated by scraped knees, overcooked chops and homework. These movies were fun to watch, soothing even.

Not so, say actors Keira Knightley and Kristen Bell, who have now taken out against fairy tales that might get in the way of their raising sufficiently aware modern daughters.

Knightley revealed in an interview on the Ellen show that she had banned her three-year-old daughter from watching both the animated and live Cinderella films.

Television

ABC ME secures three BAFTA Children’s Awards nominations

ABC ME programming has been nominated for three BAFTA awards celebrating the world’s best programs for young audiences.

The finalists for the 2018 British Academy Children’s Awards feature ABC ME series Nowhere Boys: Two Moons Rising (nominated for the International Live Action Award) and underwater adventure The Deep (International Animation Award). ABC ME enhanced acquisition So Awkward is a contender for Best Comedy program.

Nowhere Boys

ABC children’s head Libbie Doherty said: “Congratulations to the teams behind Nowhere Boys, The Deep and So Awkward for setting the high-water mark for quality and distinctive programming that resonates with primary school-age children around the world.

“ABC ME reflects and celebrates the diverse lives, interests and joys of children across genres such as drama, animation and comedy. The BAFTA award nominations continue a golden run of recognition for ABC Children’s content, including this month’s win by First Day at the MIPCOM Diversity TV Excellence Awards.”

The Emmy Award-winning drama Nowhere Boys is a Matchbox Pictures production for the ABC, with the support of Screen Australia and Film Victoria. The Deep is produced by A Stark Production and DHX Media for the ABC and Britain’s CBBC.

The winners of the BAFTA Children’s Awards will be announced on November 25.

Seven West Media cooking up new food channel

Seven West Media is set to unveil a new free-to-air channel to its advertisers and media agencies on Friday, reports Max Mason in The AFR.

Sources told The Australian Financial Review the new channel will be focused on food and Seven, home of My Kitchen Rules, sees the potential to drive new revenues from the popular topic.

Sources said Seven believes advertisers will be keen on a new food channel and believe it can drive high-yield growth on a digital channel.

“We’re looking forward to presenting our plans for 2019 at our Allfronts on Friday in Sydney,” a Seven spokesman said.

The new food channel would be the second of its kind in the market, after SBS launched its own 24/7 channel in 2015. SBS’s Food Network, thanks to advertising provisions given to the multicultural public broadcaster, pays for itself rather than it needing a slice of the funds received from the government. Seven last launched a new channel in early 2016, 24/7 movie channel 7Flix.

New Foxtel series Fighting Season reveals struggles of war veterans’ wives and partners back home

Actors Sarah Armanious and Sabryna Walters represent the unsung heroes of war – the wives and partners of Australia’s returned service men and women, reports Jackie Epstein in the Herald Sun.

They’re stars of Foxtel’s much-anticipated drama series Fighting Season that launches on Sunday and focuses on Australian soldiers returning home from Afghanistan and the mystery surrounding a controversial mission.

“I guess the female characters in this show really represent the battle on the home front,” Armanious told Confidential at a lunch to launch the series at the Australian Museum yesterday.

“It doesn’t just end when they come home. Something else begins again. Hopefully Fighting Season can begin a dialogue about what our service men and women go through outside of any political landscape, just as human beings who go away and come home affected.”

I’m going to talk to Sam and ask him what he wants to do, says Nine chief

Sam Newman’s future is still to be determined, with Channel 9 chief executive officer Hugh Marks saying they will have honest discussions on Thursday, reports Herald Sun’s Jackie Epstein.

Marks said the network was committed to a football program next year but needed to gauge who was committed to being involved.

“I’m going to talk to Sam and ask him what he wants to do,” Marks said on Wednesday at Nine’s program launch at Docklands.

“He’s been a great talent and contributor for us for a long period of time. Anyone that’s done that for our business deserves respect and I’m there to give that to him and hear what he wants to do. First thing will be we’re doing a football show next year, what’s his passion to be involved in that or otherwise.

The Block 2018: Josh and Elyse’s advice to this year’s contestants about the auction

Last year’s winners of The Block talk about the pressure of auction day, and what they’re up to next in Fairfax Media’s Domain.

Cast your minds back to The Block auction day last year: how were you feeling before the auction? And how about afterwards?

Leading into the auction, we were obviously super nervous, but everything was out of our control, which is a blessing and a curse. As for what we could control, we had produced the best possible house we could in the 12 weeks we were provided.

The ABC’s Keli Lane documentary is still making waves several weeks after it first went to air, with a group of academics and lawyers now asking the NSW Attorney General for an urgent review of Lane’s murder conviction, reports Broede Carmody in The SMH.

Exposed: The Case of Keli Lane, an explosive three-part investigative series, examined possible flaws in the prosecution’s case, which culminated in a guilty verdict for the now-43-year-old Lane in December 2010.

The former water polo player was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the murder of her baby daughter, Tegan, several years earlier.

However, Lane has always maintained her innocence and claims she gave her baby away to a man by the name of “Andrew Morris” or “Andrew Norris”.

Sports Media

Shane Warne says writing his own obituary made him a better person

In a frank and revealing interview with 7.30’s Leigh Sales on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, Shane Warne spoke about some of the lowest moments in his life and explained how writing his own obituary helped him become a better person, reports Genevieve Rota in The SMH.

The legendary cricketer, 49, is busy promoting his new autobiography, No Spin, and is proving to live up to the book’s title during his publicity interviews, candidly discussing the many highs and lows of both his cricket career and personal life.

Telling Sales that the biggest regrets he has are the times he’s let down his children – “I have to live with that for the rest of my life,” he said – Warne didn’t shy away from detailing his darkest days.

“You go through in great detail all of the various scandals that happened over your career,” Sales says to Warne. “The fine for match fixing, the diuretic issue, tabloid paper stuff, the investigation into the Shane Warne Foundation… what has been the lowest moment personally for you?”